It's Not Just You, Murray! (1964) User Reviews

Well made short from the early Scorsese.

[OllieZ · 7/10 · 26 October 2005]

Out of his earlier works, I would say Italianamerica is my favourite, but this short film is just as important.

Not to be compared with his more serious works, Scorsese's short film is a comedy piece where we are introduced to the life of a small time hood - Murray, who is oblivious to the fact that even his best friend is betraying him. This gives way for some interesting set pieces.

This film could have been a start of Scorsese's interaction with mob life. The ideas of male bonding etc, are used here, and will later be seen in Mean Streets in 73. Mean Streets was also influenced by I Viteloni by Fellini - so if you are interested in Scorsese's work, and how it came to be, watch that film.

If you are a Scorsese fan, you must see this - as it helps you understand his later works. Also recommended : Italianamerica/Big Shave/what's a nice girl like you doing in...

See some Truffaut to - for technique.

Marty gathers his mainstays and his mom.

[st-shot · 7/10 · 9 July 2021]

Murray has done ok for himself. Expensive ties, shoes, cars the self aggrandizing Murray admits he could not have done it without Joe. Problem is Joe and his wife have this thing for each other.

Martin Scorsese's influence and go to territory over the next half century reveal themselves early in this well shot amusing student film. The Fellini (Germi less so) influence is a blatant but impressive homage while some of the imagery and characterization could fit smoothly into Raging Bull. Populating his filmography with Little Italy good fellers and wise guy mainstays Murray and his "good friend" Joe would be the prototype for decades to come. Here they have a sly charm but the single cuckold theme can only go so far in this overall well mounted little short.

Successful

[Tankutkurt · 6/10 · 12 October 2016]

This movie is a successful short film, which belongs to Martin Scorsese's early Director career.

The movie use the way of comedy to describe a rise of a gangster in underground world.

The final part of the movie shows a similarity to ending of Frederico Fellini's "8½" .

Good little short

[Matt M. · 22 October 1999]

I attend NYU, and was lucky to be shown a print of this short. The movie is entirely innovative, and does have some of Scorsese's trademark themes, such as crime and, of course, his mother. The story centers around a man and all the horrible things his friend Murrary does to him.

This movie is, however, uncharacteristically funny for a Scorsese film. It is very similar to an early Woody Allen movie, such as Bananas, in that regard. It also contains some nods to avant garde cinema, such as Goddard or Fellini, especially in the last scene.

All in all, a fabulous little movie that shows inclinations of things to come from Scorsese~

Interesting Early Scorcese

[arfdawg-1 · 6/10 · 17 July 2020]

Martin was already 22 or 23 when this short was made at NYU. One has to wonder how he was able to score such elaborate sets for this film. I mean interiors couldnt have all been filmed at NYU, no?

You also have to wonder what happened to teh actors who never worked again and how they feel that he's still making money off this movie and they arent.

It's a really well made short although the story gets old quicker than the 15 minutes it takes to finish watching the film.

Scorsese at his silliest

[Jeremy_Urquhart · 7/10 · 18 October 2023]

I guess It's Not Just You, Murray! Would count as Scorsese's first crime film, even though it's pretty light on the crime overall and feels more like a broad comedy. Still, I found it to be a fairly fun, is scattershot watch. Another key first is this is, I believe, the first time Scorsese put his mother in a role in one of his films, and she's responsible for some of this short's funniest moments.

I wasn't expecting it to turn into a Federico Fellini parody or homage; it felt a bit like they didn't know how to wrap things up in just 15 minutes. But the bulk of this short film is pretty entertaining, and also succeeded in making me laugh a handful of times - Scorsese's knack for comedy has always been underrated.

one of the funniest things Scorsese's done

[Quinoa1984 · 8/10 · 15 September 2006]

Ira Rubin plays Murray, who at the start of the film basically all about him- with an amusingly self-conscious camera (like a mockumentary of sorts)- he's dressed up extra nice, showing off his wares, and it's pretty clear he's a gangster. That cleared up, he tells his story in a free-form way in the narration skipping and scatting over time, including his good, good friend Joe (San De Fazio, funny in a straight-forward way), and his sting in making Gin. But then he goes to jail, meets his nurse-wife, makes a good gig doing musicals (Love is a Gazelle being the big hit, the funniest part of the film for me), and then finally it all collides into, what else, an 8 1/2 homage. Scorsese and co-writer Mardik Martin have something here that is genuinely clever, as it goes through various forms of comedy, all set to a very keen, specific rhythm.

And there are so many riffs and styles that it all somehow comes together through Scorsese's professional style of shooting. This isn't amateur hour here. Sometimes we get the physical comedy (the police raid), or just a wacky spoof or send-up (the musical sequences, quite ingenious overall), lampooning the movie-making process itself ("hey, sound-guy, turn down the sound", Murray says in one scene when Joe wants to talk private with him), and things of family (Scorsese's mom, of course, serving spaghetti to his son even through the gate in jail) and culture (gas masks in Jersey, ho-ho). All in all, it fills its time very well, with a style of comedy that almost reminded me of a lighter, though still quite witty and off-the-wall, version of the humor that would come in After Hours. Rubin is also very good as the title character, smarmy, self-satisfied, and charming in a sleazy way that Scorsese probably relates to from people in his neighborhood.

Plenty of film-making gusto to go with the laughs, this is a really cool little short film that I was very happy to seek out- even if this and his other NYU short film aren't as great as some of his later shorts like Big Shave and American Boy.

It's All You, Marty.

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 16 July 2017]

"It's Not Just You, Murray!" is an American 15-minute black-and-white short film from 1964, so this one is already over 50 years old now. And it is the third filmmaking effort by Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese who was still in his early 20s when he wrote and directed this one. His co-writer is Iranian Mardik Martin, with whom he worked on several other occasions too later on. This is basically a mobster comedy movie, so entering the world if crime here we have the genre that probably defines Scorsese's career the best as stuff like Taxi Driver and Goodfellas are considered his career-defining films and the one that finally brought him the Oscar was "The Departed", also a film where crime is the core component. Anyway, back to this old work here. I would say that neither the crime component, nor the comedy component (mostly relying on irony) are on a level where I would say that they really make an impact or are good enough to watch this one. A bit of a shame, but I don't think that Scorsese is known for this work here, but that the other way around is the truth. This work is known for Scorsese and it probably would be totally forgotten now without the big name attached to it. The cast does not include any known names either with the exception of Scorsese's mother if that counts. Still a solid achievement for a man in his early 20s. But I don't really think it needs to be seen unless you are a Scorsese completionist. Skip it perhaps.

Memory of an Italian mother and a plate of pasta at Brown University

[ItalianGerry · 10/10 · 11 June 2012]

I first saw this early film by Martin Scorsese at an intercollegiate student film festival at Brown University in Providence on April 16, 1965. I was not a Brown student but I used to attend film showings there, of which there were many, and they formed the nucleus of my education as a film buff. I saw a few other movies in that festival held at Alumnae Hall, but "It's Not Just You, Murray" was the one that caught my attention at the time, because of is brash and entertaining qualities. I remember in particular the amusing image of the Italian mamma coming in with a big plate of pasta, eager to feed her boy. Later I would find out that this mamma was actually played by Scorsese's own mother Catherine, whom we would see later in the documentary "Italianamerican", about both the directors parents, as well as in other cameo roles, including one in "Goodfellas," where her character is kind of an extension of the earlier role in "Murray." The movie got a top award at that Brown festival, not surprising. I filed away a memory of it, taking care to note the director's name. I suspected he would be going places. Later when "Boxcar Bertha" opened in Providence at the Strand Theatre, I went to see it on the basis of the name Scorsese and I was not disappointed, and of course greater films were yet to come in his remarkable career.

Growing Talent In Sophomore Effort

[jzappa · 8/10 · 18 September 2006]

This cute, inventive student film is Scorsese's second time in the director's chair, and this film is the beginning of his fascination with crime and double-crosses. Like with his brilliant debut, What's A Nice Girl Like You Doing In A Place Like This?, his techniques in generally unfolding the story and his clever cinematographic eye...you know what? I praise too much. I think I'm boring when I praise. I praise Martin Scorsese all the time. Everything he makes turns to gold in my eyes because I think he makes movies the precise way I think they should be made. I love the guy, that's all. There's nothing specific to say pertaining to why I like even his early student short films such as this one. I just think he's the man. If you think he is the man, I would check this one out just to say you saw it and to see the foundations of his ingenious later work.

It's Not Just You, Murray! was another early short from Martin Scorsese

[tavm · 8/10 · 3 June 2019]

This is one of the early shorts made by Martin Scorsese when he was a student at NYU. In this one, a middle-aged man looks back at his life and how he got successful like making illegal gin during Prohibition or producing some hit Broadway shows. He credits a "friend" with his successes but that "friend" is...not a friend at all! Filmed in black-and-white with some jump cuts and still frames, this was quite an amusing short to watch as an example of the early work of Mr. Scorsese. So on that note, It's Not Just You, Murray! is worth a look. P.S. The mother of the leading character is played by the mother of the director, Catherine Scorsese.

Genesis Of An Auteur

[Theo Robertson · 8/10 · 16 July 2013]

Okay what'd you think is Scorsese's masterwork ? For me it's GOODFELLAS but chances are you might have picked another one involving violent foul mouthed gangsters stamping on faces hurling insults while they send their victim in to eternal oblivion . In summary Scorsese is the God of the mob movie and this short film titled IT'S NOT JUST YOU MURRAY is the living legend's first foray in to crime cinema

If there's one problem with Scorsese it's that he sometimes tends to remake the same film . He remade GOODFELLAS as CASINO and both BRINGING OUT THE DEAD and THE KING OF COMEDY are reworkings of TAXI DRIVER . In this 15 minute short film he touches upon elements that interest him in films such as family and friendships turning sour and living the American dream by making the business of America illegal business . That said the tone is very much light hearted and humorous compared to much of his other acclaimed works and you wouldn't really be able to tell it was a Scorsese film . It's essential viewing for anyone interested in the director's work and is a very amusing short film in its own right that I would have enjoyed regardless of who made it

Two from Scorsese

[Michael_Elliott · 29 February 2008]

It's Not Just You, Murray! (1964)

*** (out of 4)

Martin Scorsese's second short is a nice homage to the gangster pictures from Warner. A middle aged gangster looks back over his life from the start of his career to the present. If you're a fan of the Warner gangster pictures then you'll enjoy this short film with all the references to those earlier pictures.

What's a Nice Girl Like You Doing in a Place Like This? (1963)

** (out of 4)

First film from Martin Scorsese about a writer who buys a painting and soon his obsession with it leads to writers block. There's not too much going on here but I guess that's to be expected with a student film. The camera-work and editing are nice.